One original sci-fi story per day for all of 2023 | Created by screenwriter Timothy Michael Cooper, illustrated using A.I.

Solve for X

Solve for X

People think solving a murder in multiple timelines must be easy, since anything could be true. In a recent case I “solved,” a man’s wife murdered him via slow poisoning over many years. In another reality, he inadvertently poisoned himself with performance-enhancing drugs. In a third, his own mother-in-law did it. In another, it was a coworker with whom he’d been having an affair. Heck, I probably killed him myself in some timelines. So what use is investigating a death if every solution—and no solution—is concurrently correct? To that I say, it's clear you've never lost someone you truly loved.